Ciara Renée Cast as Hawkgirl in Arrow/Flash Spinoff

One of the brightest young stars of Broadway is headed to The CW in a superhero role.

Ciara Renée has joined the cast of the upcoming Arrow/Flash spinoff as Hawkgirl. The superhero, whose real name is Kendra Saunders, was among DC’s first female superheroes, and although she’s new to live-action TV, she’s no stranger to being depicted on television, having appeared in the Justice League animated series. In the comics, Kendra is a young woman who commits suicide only to have her body taken over by her grandfather’s first cousin, Shiera Hall, the Hawkgirl of the Golden Age comics lore. It’s uncertain just how much of this original will carry over into the Arrow/Flash spinoff, but what we do know is that the character in the show has been repeatedly reincarnated. Oh, and she’ll also have to deal with having wings bursting out of her back, because…well, Hawkgirl.

This will be Renée’s first starring role on television, after a career that’s been mostly confined to the stage. She’s most recently starred on Broadway in Big Fish and Pippin, both critically-acclaimed shows that helped to raise Ciara’s profile.

She joins a cast that includes Brandon Routh (reprising his Arrow role as Ray Palmer/The Atom), Wentworth Miller (playing The Flash‘s Leonard Snart/Captain Cold), Dominic Purcell (returning from The Flash as Mick Rory/Heat Wave), Victor Garber (who will once again play his Flash role as one half of Firestorm, Dr. Martin Stein) and Caity Lotz (Arrow’s Sara Lance, although it’s uncertain if she’ll play the same role in this series). Also announced for the show is Doctor Who and Broadchurch star Arthur Darvill as Rip Hunter. So this series is really shaping up to be something special.